1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for performing operation managements of electric power generating facilities, and a program for executing the method, and more particularly, to operation management support system for allowing the electric power generating facilities to exhibit optimal power generating performance while giving consideration to operational risk of the electric power generating facilities, operation management method thereof, and a program for executing the method on a computer.
Further, herein, the present inventions mentioned above may be referred to or expressed, respectively, as “electric-power-generating facility operation management support system”, “electric-power-generating facility operation management support method” and “program for executing operation management support method on computer” or like.
2. Related Art
In general, in electric power generating facilities or plants such as thermal power generating facilities, operation is performed under conditions so as to extend the lifespan thereof as much as possible, based upon the estimation of lifespan of the facilities, which are determined based upon thermal stress due to operations (start, stop), aging deterioration, and so forth. Such arrangement examples are disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 61-49481, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 4-54808, and Japanese Patent No. 2965989, wherein operation is performed while giving consideration to the lifespan of the electric power generating facilities.
With the operational method and operational system for performing operation while giving consideration to the lifespan of the electric power generating facilities disclosed in the aforementioned documents, thermal stress occurring under operational conditions in a boiler, a turbine, and so forth, which are components of the electric power generating facilities, is calculated based upon a physical model, and operational conditions which exhibit the permissible calculated results are employed as restriction conditions. Then, the system transmits the calculated restriction conditions to a power generating plant operational control system, whereby operational control is performed. Description will be made regarding a schematic configuration thereof with reference to a block diagram which shows a power generating facility optimal operation system in FIG. 26. A power generating facility optimal operation system 101 includes a storage unit 103 for storing fuel-cost property functions f1(MW) through fn(MW) for the electric power generating units 102a through 102n, and an optimal-operational-condition calculation unit 105 for calculating load-distribution command values MW(1) through MW(n) for electric power generating units 102a through 102n based upon power demand from a central demand unit 104.
The optimal-operational-condition calculation unit 105 calculates the load distribution command values MW(1) through MW(n) for the electric power generating units 102a through 102n such that the sum of the electric power generation of the electric power generating units 102a through 102n (total amount of electric power generation) matches the aforementioned power demand. Description will be made below regarding the restriction conditions and the optimal conditions of the calculation.    (1) Restriction ConditionsTotal power generation=Σ(power generation of each)=electric-power demand value    (2) Optimal Conditions∂f1(MW)/∂MW(1)=∂f2(MW)/∂MW(2)= . . . =∂fn(MW)/∂MW(n)
The load distribution values MW(1) through MW(n) are obtained by calculating solutions which satisfy the aforementioned restriction conditions and optimal conditions. The electric power generating facility optimal operation system having such a configuration can determine the load distribution command values (operational conditions) which suppress the power generating costs to a minimum, as well as satisfying the required power demand.
On the other hand, liberalization of electric power market in recent years involves deregulation of sale and purchase of electric power on the market. In this case, the transaction price of electric power and supply thereof change dependent upon trading of electric power on the market as shown in Non-patent Document 1. On the other hand, a technique is known as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined (KOKAI) Patent Publication No. 9-179064, wherein a product-manufacturing plant adjusts the relation between manufacturing of products and selling of electric power so as to efficiently manufacture products corresponding to the transaction price of electric power.
On the other hand, aging of the electric power generating facilities increases the risk of unexpected shutdown thereof. In the event of unexpected shutdown of the electric power generating facilities under contract for sale of electric power, the supplier of the electric power must pay a penalty for non-fulfillment of the contract. Accordingly, the risk of unexpected shutdown of the facilities should be suppressed from the perspective of business management, as well as from the perspective of plant operation. Conventionally, the supplier of the electric power has used insurance as means for avoiding or hedging such a risk.
The insurance service for handling the unexpected shutdown of the facilities has a mechanism for carrying out a monitoring-operation service for monitoring the electric power generating facilities and an electric power supplying service for providing electric power so as to compensate shortage of electric power at the time of unexpected shutdown of the facilities. An arrangement is known as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined (KOKAI) Patent Publication No. 2003-22368, which has a mechanism for carrying out an insurance service for unexpected shutdown of the facilities.
However, with the conventional electric power generating facility optimal operation mechanism, the total capability of electric power production of all electric power generating facilities is a fixed value, and estimation of supply and demand of electric power is made regardless of operations of electric power supplying sources (which will be simply referred to as “electric power suppliers” hereafter) other than the electric power generating facilities of the electric power company. Accordingly, in the event of operating the electric power generating facilities of the electric power company under this estimation using the fixed electric power demand, in some cases, imbalance occurs between supply of electric power and demand thereof. That is to say, suppliers and consumers can freely sell and purchase of electric power on the market corresponding to price fluctuation over time. Accordingly, operation of the electric power generating facilities needs to be adjusted so as to control the sale amount (in some cases, the purchase amount) of electric power based upon the market trends.
In the case of electric power suppliers directly supplying electric power to general consumers or electric-power vendors (which will be referred to as “consumer” hereafter) based upon a bilateral contract (one-to-one contract) without transmission through the central demand unit for controlling the electric power system, the electric power generating facilities need to follow the demand of the consumers which changes at random.
As described above, optimal operation cannot be performed for the electric power generating facilities of the electric power company only by operating the electric power generating facilities under optimal conditions obtained based upon the electric power demand.
Furthermore, with operation of the electric power generating facilities on the electric power market wherein the transaction price of electric power fluctuates over time directly corresponding to the market needs, maximum generating of electric power at the time of the increased transaction price thereof while monitoring the precise market trends allows the supplier of electric power to obtain an increased profit from electric power, as well as providing optimal operation thereof from the economic perspective. Furthermore, reserve electric power which can be provided at a desired time is useful on such an electric power market. Note that the term “reserve electric power” as used here does not mean electric power stored in capacitors, batteries, or the like. The term “reserve electric power” as used here means the electric power which can be generated in corresponding to the increased demand at any time by operating the electric power generating facility beyond normal operations, i.e., reserve electric power generating capabilities. Accordingly, there is demand for operation of electric power generating facilities to reserve a part of output thereof as reserve electric power so as to be used as stand-by electric power for handling risks of fluctuation of trading on the market.
However, with the aforementioned operation methods and operation systems operating under conditions for extending lifespan thereof as much as possible, or employing an insurance service for unexpected shutdown of the electric power generating facilities, operation wherein a part of output of the electric power generating facilities is set aside as the reserve electric power so as to be operated as stand-by electric power leads to problems as follows.
First, with the aforementioned operation methods and operation systems operating under conditions for extending lifespan thereof as much as possible, the aforementioned operation which sets aside the reserve electric power has a problem that optimal operation of the electric power generating facilities cannot be made according to the market demand for reserve electric power.
With the aforementioned operation methods and operation systems operating under conditions for extending lifespan thereof as much as possible, the first priority is the lifespan of the electric power generating facilities, and accordingly, the reserve electric power is prepared under rated operating conditions of the electric power generating facilities. Accordingly, operation of the reserve electric power production capability is limited to predetermined operational restriction conditions, even in a case of increased needs of the electric power market. Accordingly, in normal situations wherein no reserve electric power is not actually supplied, the electric power generating facilities generate electric power less than the rated electric power generation by the amount of the reserve electric power, i.e., performs partial-load operation, leading to the disadvantages of efficiency, costs, and the like.
Accordingly, with the aforementioned operation methods and operation systems operating under conditions for extending lifespan thereof as much as possible, sufficient reserve electric power production capability is not maintained while supplying sufficient electric power in normal situations. In a case of maintaining sufficient reserve electric power production capability, electric power generation in normal situations needs to be reduced corresponding to the increased reserve electric power production capability, leading to low-efficiency partial-load operation in normal situations. This leads to a problem that optimal operation of the electric power generating facilities cannot be made according to the market demand for reserve electric power.
Next, the aforementioned operation methods and operation systems employing an insurance service for unexpected shutdown of the electric power generating facilities also have a problem (second problem) that the insurance service has no mechanism which effectively functions as suitable risk-hedging means from the perspective of business for handling the increased operational risk of the electric power generating facilities due to generation of reserve electric power.
Operation of electric power generating facilities while maintaining reserve electric power production capability leads to marked difference in risk costs between a case wherein the reserve electric power is actually generated and an case otherwise.
However, the aforementioned conventional insurance service for unexpected shutdown of the facilities has a mechanism for estimating risk costs regardless of the fact whether or not reserve electric power has been actually generated. Accordingly, the supplier must pay an insurance fees for a case wherein the reserve electric power has been actually generated (a case of high risk costs for the electric power generating facilities) even in a case wherein the reserve electric power has not been generated (a case of low risk costs for the electric power generating facilities).
This leads to an excessive insurance fees as compared with risk costs of the electric power generating facilities in a case of generating no reserve electric power in reality, and accordingly, the aforementioned insurance service does not effectively function as risk-hedging means for operating the electric power generating facilities from the perspective of business.